DofE - Silver Expedition
by perpetualpathology
Summary: The group of 10 head back to the New Forest to complete their Silver DofE award, partially on horseback and some on their own two feet.
1. Chapter 1

**I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the reviews on the final silver expedition published yesterday – the two for the last chapter definitely made me smile after I'd left my house at 7:00am that morning and got home from college at 6:30pm, 11 ½ hours later!**

* * *

It was early in the morning and Zosia as just tying up the laces of her brand new hiking boots, courtesy of her father, on. Her ankle had healed well but to prevent another preventable injury, he'd bought her proper hiking boots that protected and supported her ankles. With the money that he'd given her, Zosia had also bought some new camping and trekking equipment including a portable charger for her phone so that she could use her iPhone throughout the three days that they'd have no access to electricity.

"Zosia." Arthur whispered and she turned to see him standing in the open plan kitchen waving his hand to get her to go over to him.

"What?" She replied confusedly.

"We've got to leave in 20 minutes and Dom's still in his room and I'm sure I heard him drag some poor unfortunate soul in there last night." He informed her quietly.

"Well what do you want me to do about it?"

"You–" Both junior doctors jumped as his door opened so they turned around and busied themselves in the kitchen.

"I'll see you later." Dom smiled as he kissed the unknown man before he showed him out of the flat and then waltzed into the kitchen wearing nothing but his green kimono dressing gown. "Ah, it's a beautiful morning." He sung happily but he frowned when Zosia raised her eyebrow at him. "What? It's not a school night; I'm allowed friends round aren't I?" He joked.

"We're leaving at 8 o'clock Dom."

"Yeah? So? We've still got over an hour."

"It's 7:40 Dom, you've got 20 minutes." Arthur stated.

"What?" He frowned as he looked at his watch.

"He hasn't moved his watch an hour forward." Zosia concluded.

"Don't panic, I can get ready in 20 minutes." Dom stated before he jogged to the bathroom and then slammed the door behind him. "Zosh, put two slices of bread in the toaster please!" He shouted over the shower.

* * *

Rather than travelling by minibus, the group of 10 were all getting there by their own means. Mo was taking Adele and Sacha in her car, Guy was taking Colette, Dom was driving Arthur and Zosia and Jonny was driving with his partner in the passenger seat.

"Jac, stop panicking it'll be fine." Jonny said reassuringly. She had spent the first 20 minutes of the journey to the New Forest flicking through various sheets that she had printed off about horse riding and she showed no signs of stopping. He could understand why she was apprehensive – she'd never ridden a horse before and was going to be expected to learn rather swiftly for one day out of the three day trek. But most of the group would also be in the same boat at her – it was just her desire for knowledge and to be in control that was fuelling her panic.

"I'm not panicking. I'd just like to know what I'm getting myself in to." She replied calmly.

"Alright, stop being so… _Jac-_ like then. Look," He began as he grabbed the sheets from her hands and threw them into the back seats "you're not the only one who hasn't ridden before. Everything will be fine." He said whilst he avoided eye contact with her though he could see that she had risen her eyebrows at him. "Hey, why the long face?" He joked which caused Jac to let out a long sigh; it was going to be a very tiring weekend.

* * *

A little after 8am, the junior doctors had left Holby in Dom's car. Zosia was in the passenger seat whilst Arthur was in the back being squashed by two enormous hiking bags since only one would fit in the boot.

"Do you really think that's safe?" Arthur protested as Dom took his allergy medication.

"Relax Diggers, it's a red light." Dom protested before he took a swig of water. "Anyway I wouldn't need to take them if someone's father wasn't making us ride horses. Did you even try to dissuade your father from making us ride horses? I'm going to swell up like a balloon, I won't stop sneezing, I won't be able to breath–"

"It's not my fault. I asked him if you could get out of it but he's had it booked for weeks." Zosia replied. "Would you really rather walk for a whole day while the rest of us go on horseback? We'll be so much faster than you and you'd be by yourself all day." Zosia stated.

"You've perked up a bit." Dom pointed out. "These last three times we've been on the way to the expedition you've been all grumpy and thrown a hissy fit. What's different?"

"Maybe I'm just in a good mood." She shrugged. "And maybe I had horse riding lessons since I was 5 and I had my own horse by the age of 9." Zosia smiled sweetly.

"Of course you did." Dom said sarcastically. "Let me guess, Daddy got you your own stables too."

"No, I only had my own horse. But I did have to sell her when I went to university so I haven't ridden in years."

"That still means you're going to be at a huge advantage when we horse ride all day tomorrow." Arthur stated.

"My dad's pretty good too, him, Mama and I used to go out riding into the middle of nowhere as a family to get away from their work. Colette took me to my riding lessons a couple of times so she might not have ridden a horse before but she's more than comfortable around horses." She explained.

"Fantastic." Dom said sarcastically.

* * *

"Welcome to the New Forest ladies and gentlemen." Guy smiled as he stood in the car park in front of the other nine individuals who had gathered around. "We're going to be walking along a route called the Solent Way. It's a coastal route, and it's about 60 miles long and we'll be covering about 30 miles tomorrow on horses so we won't be _walking_ quite as far as we did on the practice expedition. As before, we're covering a certain route so I won't be splitting you up into teams today nor will I be confiscating mobile phones or tablets. Are there any questions?"

"Are there toilets at the campsite?" Zosia asked bluntly.

"Yes, and showers too." He confirmed. "Right, is there anyone who would like to take the lead in navigating today? I've got instructions for the route as well as a map just in case."

"I'll do it." Jonny nodded and he took the sheets of paper from the CEO.

"You do realise that if you misread the map and we get lost you're going to be in a lot of trouble with the others, let alone me, right?" Jac retorted quietly whilst everyone else prepared to embark on their journey.

"Well then, you'd better help me and make sure we go the right way." Jonny stated.

* * *

 **Please leave me a review if you have a minute :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow, this place looks fantastic!" Jonny exclaimed as they entered a green, grassy field that overlooked the ocean and was a dozen meters or so away from the sandy beach. There was a brick building in the middle of the field which was presumably the toilet and shower block, and in one of the corners was a small wooden cabin, the reception of the campsite.

"It does indeed." Guy smiled. "If you want to stay here for a minute, I'll go and check in and see where we can set our tents up." He said before he began walking off to the cabin.

"Hey, who fancies a quick dip in the sea later?" Dom suggested.

" _Please_ , I bet you wouldn't even put your head under." Zosia laughed.

"You wanna bet?"

"Yeah I do actually; you wouldn't want to ruin your hair." Zosia retorted.

"Fine. £10 says I'll put my head underwater and swim out further than you can."

"Deal." Zosia nodded. "But I do hope you haven't forgotten how cold it's going to be. And everyone knows what the cold water can do to men." She teased.

* * *

"Everyone's going down to the beach." Jonny informed Jac who was sitting in the tent on her iPhone, presumably catching up with the day's events with Elliot who was back on Darwin running the ward. "I might go for a swim seeing the other lot are. Are you gonna come?" He asked gently though he knew she'd be a bit touchy given that she'd confessed to him on the first expedition by the stepping stones that she couldn't swim.

"I'll stay here." She replied simply.

"Alright. Well when I get back, could you pass me a towel and my toiletry bag so that I can jump in the shower to warm up please?"

"Okay." She nodded.

"You could always come and sit on the sand." Jonny stated. "Colette, Mo and Adele aren't going in but they're coming down to the beach so I think if you're the only one who's not there it might look a bit odd."

"You're not going to say anything are you? Or try to get me in the water because you want to 'teach' me because if you do–"

"No, I won't. I promise." Jonny smiled reassuringly. "But you need another jumper on, it's cold out there."

"Says the one who's going for a dip in the Solent." Jac protested.

* * *

Jac was sat on Jonny's folded up towel on the sand with Adele, Mo and Colette on the sand whilst the others prepared to enter the freezing waters of British seas. Jonny had already stripped to his boxers – he hadn't expected to go for a swim so he hadn't brought anything else – and joint Sacha, Dom, Arthur and Guy and they were just waiting for Zosia to join them.

"They're absolutely nuts." Mo stated bluntly.

"Well we agree on something for once." Jac remarked as Zosia ran past them wearing a thin white vest and tight black shorts and then plunged into the ocean. They were clothes that she planned on sleeping in but she had spare clothes and she hadn't wanted to wear anything that would weigh her down in the water; she just needed something to cover up.

"Right, let's get this race over and done with then." Dom smiled smugly – he was sure he could beat Zosia at swimming especially when she seemed to be struggling to cope with the icy water.

"Alright." Zosia nodded. "First one out to that red buoy and back wins. And the loser has to order pizza for the winner. Deal?" She asked as she pointed out to a buoy that marked the beginning of the Solent shipping channel that was around 100m out to sea.

"Deal." Dom agreed.

"Zosia please be careful." Guy warned.

"Yeah, I will." She huffed.

"Come on Diggers, start us off." Dom ordered.

"Um, okay. Er… Right three, two, one, go." He announced and both F2s proceeded to dive into the water and headed out to sea.

* * *

"Oh to be young, eh?" Guy said sarcastically as he wrapped himself in a black towel after decided that he had spent enough time in the water. Zosia and Dom were both on their way back from the buoy and they weren't far from the beach but Dom had taken a lead and he was several meters ahead of her.

"They're both mad." Colette said bluntly. "And so are _you_ for going in, in the first place." She added.

"Well it's just a bit of fun." He shrugged.

"I wouldn't call bathing in sewage water 'a bit of fun'." Jac muttered to Mo who had to stifle a laugh as their boss was only several steps away.

"In your face!" Dom shouted after he had took his first few steps on the sand and padded out of the water. "I told you I'd win."

"Congratulations Dom." Guy smiled – he knew his daughter was a sore loser so she'd be very annoyed that she'd lost to her flatmate. "You alright?" He asked his daughter who looked exhausted as she grabbed a towel that she'd thrown on the sand when she'd come from her tent not too far away.

"Shut up." She muttered.

"I never said anything!" Guy laughed. "In fact, I was going to say you don't have to worry about buying Dom a pizza because I'll order pizza for everyone tonight." He added which caused Zosia's face to light up – walking was a very tiring activity when done all day and they had all built up an appetite.

"I'll find the nearest place and get the menu up on my iPad." Zosia stated as she began to walk back to the campsite.

"No, have a shower first and warm up. That water is very cold and you can't just sit around in dripping wet clothes – you'll be freezing." Guy ordered sternly.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jonny had heard of the news of free dinner so he and Sacha had also gotten out of the water after splashing about for a little while. Jac stood up and handed Jonny his towel that she'd been sitting on so that he could wrap up after he'd been in the ocean wearing only his boxer shorts.

"Stopped being an idiot yet?" Jac retorted.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "Did you hear that? We're getting free pizza for dinner tonight!" Jonny grinned.

"Mm. Overcooked dough covered in greasy cheese and meats." Jac pulled a face at the thought of eating such things.

"You can always order a pizza with half the cheese." Jonny suggested. "Plus depending on what pizza place we order it from, they probably do salads and other healthier things as sides." He added but Jac then noticed that his teeth had began to chatter and he was shivering from the cold.

"Go and have a shower and get some dry clothes on. That goes for you too Levy." Jac ordered.

"Yes Maam." Jonny grinned before he and Sacha mockingly marched off towards the campsite.

* * *

After everyone – except Jac who had only had a side salad and a few other bits – had enjoyed the takeaway pizza around the communal fire, people began to call it a night so Guy had grabbed their attention just before they all split up.

"Just so you all know for tomorrow, we will walk to the stables which is about a mile away . And we will then have a brief introduction on how to ride a horse. I've been told the horses are used for trails by novice horse riders frequently so they are very easy-going, non-temperamental horses – I don't want anyone worrying about it. Additionally, just so everyone knows, myself and Zosia have ridden before, has anyone else?" He asked but he was met with stony silence. "No…? Alright then. Nevermind. I'm going to hit the sack and I'll see you all in the morning. I want everyone ready to leave at 8am sharp." He stated.

"You fancy sharing a shower in the morning?" Jonny asked quietly as he and Jac padded over to their tent.

"Have you seen the showers?" She protested in an equally hushed voice – the thin tent gave them little privacy amongst their colleagues and they didn't want them finding out about their antics. "They're separated by a thin shower curtain and they stop about 5 inches from the ground; even Adele could work out what was going on if she saw four feet in one cubicle rather than two." She quipped.

"Okay, no shower together then." Jonny concluded exhaustedly as he laid down on one side of the two sleeping bags that had been zipped together. "Just don't worry about tomorrow man; you're going to be fine." He joked. "Get it? 'Man you're', manure?"

"Shut up Maconie." Jac sighed as she rolled onto one side and closed her eyes. Jonny proceeded to zip the sleeping bag all the way up and then he rolled onto the same side as her and wrapped his muscular arm around her abdomen.

"Seriously though, it'll be fine." He said reassuringly before he kissed her cheek. "Night." He whispered softly and they then slowly slipped into a deep sleep, but how would the group of medical professionals get on the next day? There had to be something go wrong, didn't there?


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the reviews so far :-)**

* * *

The next day, the group of 10 arrived at the beautiful, rural stables with fields and forests on one side and the beach on the other but whilst the sun was out, not everyone was dressed for the weather. Dom was wearing long trousers tucked into his long, thick socks with hiking boots, a long sleeved jumper with gloves pulled over the cuffs, finished off with a balaclava made out of one of Zosia's scarves and a pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes – you couldn't see a single bit of his skin.

"Are you sure that this is all necessary?" Sacha asked amusedly as they walked into the large wooden building, with floors scattered with straw where several horses were kept in stalls but they'd seen the majority of the horses outside in the pasture.

"Sacha I'm allergic to horses." Dom protested.

"Ah welcome. You guys must be the Holby lot." A middle-aged woman smiled as she leant a shovel up against the wall.

"That's us." Guy nodded.

"Great. Well someone will give you a talk on the basics of horse riding in a minute, and Cassandra – our stable master – will meet you at the end of your journey today to bring the horses back. Your bags will be attached to other horses, two bags on each so that we don't put to much weight on them and those horses will be put into a pack string. Or in other words, they'll be tied together and follow behind you lot." She explained.

"I think I can feel my face swelling up just by looking at the retched animals." Dom muttered.

"Shut up Dom." Zosia barked promptly – she'd been in a good mood all morning because she couldn't wait to get back on a saddle again.

"Alright stroppy pants. Just because someone has a little crush on equines." He teased.

"Well they are far better listeners than you for a start." Zosia quipped.

* * *

A mere hour later, everyone was on their own horse and they were making good progress along the sandy beach. Once they'd gotten going it didn't seem too difficult but they were sure to encounter some problems when they stopped for a break later on.

"See, it's not so bad is it?" Jonny smirked as he rode on his horse alongside Jac. They were at the back of the group and the pack tie was tied onto Zosia's horse as the lead so next to Jonny was one of the 5 horses in the line with two hiking bags on it's back.

"Something's not right." Jac frowned.

"What do you mean?" Jonny asked confusedly.

"I think this horse is broken."

"What?" He laughed. "How can your horse be broken?"

"You know what I mean."

"No, I _honestly_ don't have a clue what you mean." Jonny stated humorously. "Do you want me to call a mechanic if it's broken?" He joked.

"I'm serious. It's gradually getting slower and it keeps making noises." Jac stated.

"Well it's a living animal, it can get tired just as much as you or I can." Jonny assured her.

"But–" Jac tried to protest when her chestnut horse whined, bowed its head and they then heard a gush of water.

"What was that?" Jonny asked confusedly. The horse then began to lower onto it's front legs so Jac quickly got off of it and watched the horse lie down on the ground on it's side.

"What's going on?" Guy asked as he had just turned around and cantered back with his horse to find out why people had stopped.

"I don't know, it just stopped completely." Jonny explained whilst Jac knelt down on the floor in front of the horse. She gently palpated the lower abdomen of the horse and found the cause of recent events.

"It's in labour; I can feel the foal in there and that liquid is amniotic fluid." Jac declared bluntly.

"What? How can that be? They didn't say she's pregnant." Guy frowned as he got down from his horse.

"Maybe they didn't know. She doesn't look that much bigger than the other horses." Zosia reasoned as she also joined the group surrounding the foaling horse.

"Right, Zosia you give me a hand. Col, I need you to call the number under Cassandra on my phone, that'll get you through to the stables and you tell them we need a vet here now." Guy ordered.

"Have you ever assisted with something like this before?" Jonny asked curiously.

"Humans, I've done plenty. Horses, not so much." Guy admitted. "Though I do believe that unless there's any problems, the best thing to do is to leave the mother to do what she wants to do." He added to his daughter.

* * *

The mother was feeding it's foal for the first time within the hour as it turned out that the horse had been in labour most of the morning. Zosia and Guy hadn't even needed to intervene medically speaking, they had just needed to reassure the mother to keep her calm.

"You could be a horse whisperer you could." Jonny smirked as he and Jac stood on the beach amongst the others.

"Why?"

"Well you knew something was wrong with your horse even though there weren't any obvious signs until her waters broke." Jonny stated.

"Told you my horse was broken." Jac grumbled.

"Ah, finally." Guy announced as one of the stable managers arrived on the beach in a car towing a horse trailer.

"Wow, she's feeding already." He stated. "Sorry about this, we didn't even know she was pregnant. I'm Alex, I'm one of the stable hands." He added.

"It's alright, we're all medical professionals so luckily no one's squeamish." Guy stated.

"Oh, I should've brought another horse for you to finish your journey." Alex gasped.

"It's alright, she can ride with me, can't she?" Jonny asked.

"Well it depends. What horse are you on?"

"Rusty." Jonny stated.

"Oh yeah, he's a strong one Rusty. If you're both comfortable with that, then it's fine; you can ride together. Just try to sit as far forward on the saddle as you can so you're not on his kidneys." He stated.

"Okay, if you're alright I think we'd better get going." Guy stated.

"Come on then Ms Naylor, after you." Jonny grinned.

* * *

Jac was sat at the front of the saddle whilst Jonny was sat behind her with his hands on the reigns, resting his forearms on her thighs and his chin on her shoulder.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Jac huffed.

"Oh definitely." Jonny grinned which caused the nearby Mo, Adele and Sacha to laugh.

"I'm sure it's not the first time Jonny's been in charge of the reins." Mo quipped.

"I bet it's not the first time Jonny's been behind her either." Adele joked. Jac chose to ignore the comments and she remained facing forwards but Jonny exchanged a bemused glance with his best friend.

"Stop winding her up you two." Jonny chuckled.

* * *

"I don't want to even look, this is going to be hideous." Dom complained as he stood in the unisex toilets with Zosia and Arthur standing behind him. They'd arrived at the campsite not long ago and everyone had started by setting their tent up. He was still wrapped up from the day and was about to unravel himself to see what damage had been done.

"Just do it." Zosia moaned.

"Alright, alright. Fine. But if you take any pictures I _will_ get you back." He threatened before he slowly took off the balaclava. As he'd expected, his face was covered with hives and Zosia's eyes fly open in shock – she didn't believe that he truly was strongly allergic to horses. "Look away, I'm hideous!" Dom said dramatically as he hung his head in his hands.

"Sit on the counter you big baby." Zosia ordered as she took the antihistamine cream that Dom had brought along.

"Right, I'm going to go now before this gets anymore awkward." Arthur stated before he left the building whilst Zosia began to rub the cream into Dom's blotchy forehead.

"He's such a cry baby." Dom smirked. "He knows I don't do boobies."

"Well I don't know… After seeing some of the people you bring back to the flat, I'm not sure what they have and haven't got." Zosia quipped.

"Neither do I until they take their clothes off." Dom remarked.

* * *

"How's Dominic?" Guy asked curiously as he caught his daughter coming out of one of the changing cubicles by the showers with her damp hair tied up in a bun.

"Well, he hasn't stopped moaning so I'm sure he's fine." Zosia quipped.

"You should take up horse riding again y'know. You looked like you really enjoyed today." Guy smiled.

"I do miss it sometimes." Zosia admitted. "I _don't_ miss the chafing though." She grimaced.

"I've got some Neosporin cream in my tent if you want it. I brought it just in case."

"No thanks, it's not that bad. Right, I'll see you in the morning."

"We're leaving at 7:30 by the way."

"What?!"

"Well we've only got to cover 12 miles but we also need to be back in Holby. I'd rather leave early than get back in Holby really late." He stated.

"Yeah well I don't think anyone else here would agree with you." Zosia muttered.

"Just be ready to leave at seven thirty." Guy repeated.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, please leave a review if you did or didn't like it :)**


	4. Chapter 4

"Good morning everyone." Guy said as he stood in front of everyone who had their bags and tents packed up and on their backs. "Today we're going to split up into teams since there are two routes that we can take to the end of this trail. I won't be giving you the routes, I will merely give you the start and end point and I can tell you know that the two routes differ because just ahead of us you can see the path splits up. One goes through the forest, uphill quite a lot of the way but sheltered from the hot sun and the other follows the beach down by the bottom of the small cliff here. It is a bit harder to walk on sand than it is on a path, but at the end of your chosen route you will find a very tall set of stairs to get up to the car park where we began so I suggest you choose which one you'd like to do carefully. You can choose your own groups unless we end up with loads of people on one route and I'll have to flip a coin for each of you." He explained. "Go on, do that now." He ordered.

"What do you want to do?" Jonny asked his partner.

"We'll stick to the forest. Walking on the sand for 12 miles will be a nightmare." Jac stated. "The sand will cause even more blisters let alone the amount of extra energy it requires to walk on a malleable surface."

"Right okay. Maureen, which one are you going for?"

"I don't know." She admitted. "Adele wants to go on the beach but I think it'd be best to stick with the forest route because it looks like it's going to be a scorching day."

"You're not joined at the hip y'know. You can split up." Jac stated.

"Says you and Jonny!" Mo laughed.

"Oi, he's the one following me." Jac protested.

"She's right Mo, I just can't let her out of my sight." Jonny teased before he turned to his partner and puckered her lips. He leant in for a kiss but Mo and Adele laughed when Jac just folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow.

* * *

"This isn't as bad as I thought it'd be." Guy air aloud as he, Zosia, Dom and Arthur walked along the coastal route whilst the others were somewhere in the vast forest on the cliff above them. It was 4 people against 6 but he saw no harm in it – they were relatively even groups – and it looked like they were going to win because not only was their route shorter, but the sand that they were walking on was very firm because it was damp, but not soggy and they were making good progress.

"Yeah, I wonder how the others are getting on." Dom replied.

"I don't know but I bet there's bound to be some kind of conflict between Colette and Jac. They're both very strong-minded women." Guy stated. "Anyway, how's the flat? Has it improved since the last time I came round to drop some of Zosia's old notes off for her because, quite frankly, it was an absolute pigsty."

"You say that but we still know where everything is." Zosia moaned.

"Yeah, like we know that the TV remote is almost always on top of the microwave in the kitchen even though it doesn't work from there." Dom stated quirkily.

"And that Zosia and Dom leave their stethoscopes on the coffee table which is usually then covered in clothes from the washing machine or paperwork and books and almost every morning they have a panic because they can't find them." Arthur said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Besides, I'm sure when _you_ were at university – back in the dark ages – your place wasn't exactly clean.

"Er, it _was_ tidy thank you very much because I stayed at home with my parents." Guy protested.

* * *

"So we've only actually got a mile or two left then." Jonny concluded as he walked alongside Jac who had taken up the role of navigating from the map.

"Yeah, we should be back at the car park in about half an hour." Jac replied before she folded the map back up and put it in a side pocket of her hiking bag.

"I think we should take a break then." Colette pointed out. "If we're not that far away, we should take a break; I'm sure the other group will be far behind so we needn't worry about them."

"No. We should finish and _then_ we can relax once we've gotten back to the car park." Jac stated.

"There's no harm in taking a break." Colette said simply.

"But what's the point in stopping when we only have a mile to go?" Jac protested.

"Ladies, I think the best thing to do would be to have a vote." Sacha said wisely. "Agreed? Alright, all those in favour of carrying on." He said, to which Jac and Jonny raised their hands. "And all those who'd like to take a short break. He said, and Adele, Mo, Colette and Sacha himself put an arm in the air each. "Sorry." Sacha said with reluctance present in his voice to his best friend.

"Shut up Levy." Jac grumbled as she unclipped her chest and hip straps, dumped her bag on the floor and then proceeded to sit on the bulky object.

"Do you know what I think?" Jonny asked as he sat down on the floor in front of his grumpy partner.

"No but I'm sure you're about to tell me." She huffed.

"I think that you're just in a bad mood because you couldn't sleep properly last night because we were on the floor. But once we've finished and I'm driving you home, you can have a wee rest in the car and I'll sort out dinner for us when we get home eh? Sound good?"

"Not really because you're idea of dinner varies a lot." Jac replied bluntly.

"Well what sort of thing do you want?" Jonny asked. "A takeaway, a nice homemade meal…"

"Y'know I think this might be one of the few occasions that chicken soup will suffice."

"Really?" Jonny grinned. "Alright then, chicken soup it is." He nodded.

* * *

After a day spent horse riding for the first time in years, Zosia's thighs were causing her a great deal of pain and every extra step was excruciatingly painful to take.

"I know I said no earlier but can I have some of that Neosporin please?" She asked reluctantly to her father.

"Yeah sure. I think there's some public toilets coming up in a couple of hundred meters, I'll get it out my bag for you there and we'll have a short break." Guy replied. "Is it bad?" He asked.

"I don't know; it's just that the walking is aggravating it." Zosia replied.

"Right, okay."

"Have you got any plasters that I can use?"

"Um… No, I've only got little round plasters for blisters. I've got some dressings and tape though, I'll sort them out for you."

"Thanks."

"How is it that you're the one who rode horses for years and yet you're the one with chafed legs not us?" Dom smirked.

"She got it all the time when she had only just started riding but after a couple of months her legs became calloused – she was a stubborn little 5 year old, she never let it get in her way of riding." Guy stated. "I suppose it's just been too long since then and her skin have gone back to normal."

"How much further have we got to go?" Zosia asked. Not only was every step agonising, but she was extremely lethargic too. She couldn't wait to get in Dom's car, fall asleep for the journey home and then get a have a fulfilling meal when they got back to the flat.

"I think I can see the staircase in the distance on the other side of this cove." Guy stated. "You see the black handrail going all the way up? It's just to the right of the building on top of the cliff."

"Ugh, I forgot we've got to go all the way up the steps." Zosia complained.

"It's alright darling, we shouldn't be too much longer now."


	5. Chapter 5

"Now, I know everyone probably can't wait to go home so I'm just going to briefly explain what's going to happen on the gold practice expedition." Guy stated as he stood in front of 9 other people who had just had a little rest after finishing their final silver expedition. They were in the car park where all of their cars were and they still had the car journey back to Holby before they could relax properly. "As you may already know, it is four days and three nights since it is the next award level. And I think it will be quite enjoyable, since we're going to climb Mount Snowdon."

"Hang on a minute. We're climbing a mountain?" Adele raised an eyebrow.

"Adele, it's a very small mountain – it's not even possible to be affected by mountain sickness at the summit. It only takes 5 or 6 hours to climb up _and_ down so that will take up one of the days. The other three days will be a small amount of journeying followed by team activities which are allowed as a substitution for travelling. And we won't just be walking, we'll also do a bit of boating – either kayaking or canoeing – and there will be a bit of cycling too." He explained.

"Great." Jac muttered sarcastically which caused Jonny to chuckle quietly.

"I can assure you Dom that there won't be any horse riding though."

"Thank god." Dom boldly exclaimed.

"Okay, I'll see you all back at work the day after tomorrow." Guy announced before he lifted his bag up again and made his way over to his car with Colette, whom he was giving a lift to, in tow.

"Don't ever put me in a group with Jac Naylor again." Colette said sternly as she dumped her bag in his boot.

"Why? What happened?" Guy laughed.

* * *

Dom was driving his flatmates home on the journey from the New Forest back to Holby that took almost two hours. Zosia was comfortable curled up in the front seat with a blanket over her and a pillow between her head and the window whilst Arthur was squashed in the back with their bags.

"So, come on. How many years did you do kayaking/canoeing for? And how many cycling races have you done?" Dom asked.

"What?" Zosia frowned sleepily.

"Well your Dad seems to be doing activities to bring you two closer so I'm assuming you're a pro at boating and cycling." Dom quipped.

"I've never been boating before." Zosia protested. "And I can ride a bike but I've never been part of a race before. You're just still annoyed about the horses." She smirked.

"My face swelled up like a tomato and if I get bored of medicine then my face will be my moneymaker!" Dom protested.

* * *

"Gold is going to be a nightmare." Jac stated as she sat in the passenger seat of Jonny Maconie's car. "Guy keeps on making these things harder and harder – I hate to think what he's got planned for the final gold expedition."

"Yeah but don't you think it's rewarding to know what you can do when you push yourself to the limits?" Jonny asked.

"I push myself to my limits at work by doing a double shift twice a week all whilst saving lives _and_ putting up with Adele Effanga and her consistent incompetencies." She quipped. "I don't see how this is 'bringing us closer together' or 'making us work more efficiently as a team'. If anything, it's just increasing my resentment for most of the 'team'."

"Well, just be thankful for small mercies – you'll get to spend the expeditions with me again." Jonny grinned.

* * *

 **I should have the first gold expedition up tomorrow, thanks for reading and please leave a review to let me know what you think :)**


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